Aiding and abetting

Oh, well, one knows of people who are willing to take risks, but I absolutely detest it when some fellow makes a virtue out of it. Sidhartha Gauri may have gone through life without any claim to celebrity. A report describes him as “a young, healthy, relatively good-looking man…a 30-year-old filmmaker and author from Yamunanagar”.

He has found his aim in life: to marry a HIV positive girl. The reason? “My offer lends me a higher purpose in life, giving a part of it to somebody who needs it the most, even if it is a few months or years, is like prayer for me.”

The web portal where he posted his profile has only HIV positive people looking for matches. Naturally, there is suspicion.

Should there be?

I would like to know why his higher purpose and need for “sacrifice” does not extend to women from poor families, women with disabilities, women who are widowed, women who are thrown out of their homes, women who are forced to become part of the flesh trade.

They too need a companion.

I have written about how AIDS has become a marketing strategy. Everyone wants to join the bandwagon when no one talks about so many other illnesses that still take lives in our country.

Besides, what he is doing may set a precedent which could have undesirable ramifications. Since not much is known about him, I would not like to comment on his personal ambitions. However, it is possible that some men will want to get onto this for monetary reasons. Gauri himself got in touch with a 20-year-old Indian settled in the US. So, wouldn’t a green card, or even a jaunt, be some kind of incentive for some?

There are several HIV positive men who might seek similar women, and while I am not proposing any sort of ghettoising the situation in this case warrants prudence and not a patronising samaritanism.